My mother-in-law was horrified when she heard the name of my first born…Magdelene. Yes, named after Mary Magdalene. She came unglued when I told her my second baby was going to be called Eve.
“Why would you name your children after the scorned women of the bible?” She scoffed.
Well…I will tell you why.
From a young age I was drawn to God in a very special way. At 16 I accepted Christ as my savior and from that point, had a whirlwind spiritual journey. On this road to redemption God taught me how to accept forgiveness, which in turn allowed me to forgive others. He taught me that love, in its purest form, comes from him, and I do not have to try to be patient and kind through my own will of strength, but I can just channel it through Him.
As I read and learned more, I became drawn to the story of Mary Magdalene. She was powerful, and lovely, and flawed. More importantly, she was humble and deeply loved Jesus. And I believe that Jesus deeply loved her; so much so that he made her the first person He told to go and spread the gospel after He rose from the dead.
Similarly, Eve, from the creation story was powerful, and lovely, and flawed. God created her first, and made her to be the mother of all man kind…what a powerful and humbling position.
Neither woman chose these paths, but they were chosen for them by God. The most inspiring part of it all is that both women accepted their life with hopefulness and tried to do the best they could to serve God.
Neither woman was perfect…which is why I named my children after them. They were deeply loved by God and were humble servants of him. That is what I want for my children too. I want to have a hand in raising them up to be servants of mankind. I want them to be patient, and kind; not jealous, not boastful, not arrogant, or rude. I do not want them to insist on living their own way. I do not want them to be irritable or resentful of their calling. I want them to believe all things, endure all things, and have a legacy of love that never ends.